CHE Bargaining Update: 15 April 2013, English and Foreign Languages and Literatures

CHE bargaining has begun. The FA bargaining team met with the administration team on Monday, 8 April and established ground rules for negotiations. On Monday, 15 April, we started bargaining on two department amendments, those from English and Foreign Languages and Literatures. Both of these departments contend that the administration’s demand for “a range of equivalences” violates the explicit language in the contract. On Monday, 22 April, we’ll turn to amendments in the College of Education, specifically the departments of Kinesiology and Educational Administration and Higher Education. Both of these departments maintain that the contract provision provides for awarding and accounting for indirect teaching credit hours in workload assignments.

The bargaining team has organized the remaining sessions this term in a similar fashion: specific department papers that epitomize the central sticking points—ranges, banking, contact hours, and research activity. In these early sessions, we heard many of the same administration arguments that we’ve already heard. However, we remain optimistic that, once we’ve sussed out the various positions more frankly and candidly, progress can be made.

The FA bargaining team would also like to reiterate that there is only one principle guiding these negotiations: departmental sovereignty over the CHE process. What departments want, departments get. To that end, if you have any questions at all about this process or want to let us know about a specific departmental position that you want represented, please do not hesitate to contact Ryan Netzley (ranetzley@gmail.com). We would also like to reiterate that departments will vote on any agreements made at the bargaining table: i.e., bargaining doesn’t end in an amendment imposed without your approval.